The "Trap" for Retail Investors: Why the Golden Opportunity in the Stablecoin Business Stays Out of Reach
Think of it as a casino that charges the house fee — that's a crypto exchange. Or a bank that pays zero interest — that's a stablecoin. The analogies aren't perfect, but they capture just how lucrative the two most attractive business models in crypto really are. While the exchange space is already fiercely competitive and hard to break into, stablecoins are riding a fresh growth wave — with jaw-dropping profit margins and... an extremely high barrier for retail investors. Stablecoins — a gold mine for the
Think of it as a casino that charges the house fee — that's a crypto exchange. Or a bank that pays zero interest — that's a stablecoin. The analogies aren't perfect, but they capture just how lucrative the two most attractive business models in crypto really are. While the exchange space is already fiercely competitive and hard to break into, stablecoins are riding a fresh growth wave — with jaw-dropping profit margins and... an extremely high barrier for retail investors.
Stablecoins — A Gold Mine for Giants
Recently, Circle — the issuer of USDC — officially listed its shares on a U.S. stock exchange, becoming the "first stablecoin stock." On its very first day of trading, CRCL closed at roughly three times its IPO price, pushing Circle's market cap above $20 billion. Meanwhile, Plasma, a stablecoin payment network backed by Tether, raised $500 million in just minutes. Some participants were even willing to pay thousands of dollars in ETH gas fees just to deposit over $10 million into the system.
Why? Because stablecoins are an incredibly efficient money-making machine — especially for giants like Tether.
Rather than operating like a traditional bank — borrowing, lending, and managing credit risk — Tether takes the dollars users spend to buy USDT and invests them in short-term U.S. Treasury bills (T-Bills), collecting interest while paying users nothing, and even charging withdrawal fees on top. With T-Bill yields currently sitting around 5%, this is clearly a "get paid to do nothing" business model.
In 2024, Tether's net profit hit $13 billion — surpassing Wall Street heavyweights like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs — while the company employs only around 100 people. The profit per employee is extraordinary. Binance CEO CZ has even admitted: "Tether is far more efficient than we are."
Circle — Does Going Public Actually Give Investors an Opportunity?
As the number-two player in the space (USDC holds roughly 40% market share versus USDT), is Circle a similar kind of money-printing machine?
Not exactly. Circle's financial statements reveal that despite managing a massive asset base, its net profit for 2024 was just $155 million — far below Tether's. The reason: Circle must share the bulk of its revenue with distribution partners like Coinbase and Binance. On Coinbase alone, all profits generated from USDC flow to the exchange — not to Circle.
On top of that, Circle faces intense competition from a growing field of stablecoin rivals — both regulated (like PayPal's PYUSD) and unregulated (like USDT) — meaning it will continue to burn cash just to hold its market share.
And when you look at CRCL's stock price — trading at a P/E ratio above 100x — retail investors are clearly buying into the future, not into a steady income-generating stock.
The Dead End for Retail Investors
Right now, Tether is an exceptional business — but retail investors have no way in. The company has no IPO plans. CEO Paolo Ardoino once joked that if Tether went public, it could reach a market cap of $515 billion — surpassing Coca-Cola or Costco. But he's been equally clear: "We have no intention of going public."
The reason is simple: when you own a monopoly casino, the last thing you want is to bring in shareholders and split the profits.
On the flip side, the only avenue available to retail investors is Circle — but that comes with all the risks of a high-growth tech stock: no dividends, fierce competition, and an uncertain road ahead. Even with its public listing, Circle doesn't truly "cut investors in" on the profits.
The bottom line: "The ones making money aren't listed; the ones that are listed aren't sharing the money" — and the profits from the stablecoin market are essentially out of reach for retail investors.
An Alternative Path: The Usual Protocol Model
Against this backdrop, an experimental model from the Usual protocol offers a different angle worth watching — though it remains controversial.
Usual issues the stablecoin USD0, fully backed by real-world assets (RWA) — specifically yield-bearing stablecoins like USYC or M, which earn returns from U.S. Treasuries. The key difference is that this yield doesn't flow to USD0 holders; instead, the protocol retains it — exactly like Tether's model.
However, Usual adds an additional structural layer: users can convert USD0 into USD0++, a bond-like instrument redeemable for USD0 after four years, with rewards paid out in USUAL tokens. These tokens entitle holders to a share of the Treasury yield (currently ranging from roughly 10–50% APY depending on staking method).
In other words: rather than holding a yield-bearing stablecoin directly, you receive an indirect share of the yield through the token. This is one way to "cut the community in" on profits — though it remains complex, carries real risks, and has already seen an incident where USD0++ "lost its peg" because users mistakenly treated it as a stablecoin.